NetSuite Orientation: Editing Customer Record

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As the Japanese scholar Kakuzo Okakaura once said, “The art of life is a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” This is especially true in business. ​As a recent ​Inc.​magazine article points out​, “this is the fastest-changing communications and technology landscape we’ve ever been in…Even if you’re not directly involved in the communications or technology industries, there’s no doubt that technology has played a huge role in changes in ​your​industry. These changes mean you, as an entrepreneur, have to change!” In the twenty-first century of business, your prosperity depends in large degree on your adaptability. To keep up with the pace of the modern world, you need to use the latest, greatest, fastest technology.

SCS Cloud is devoted to helping enterprises succeed with cloud-based business software suites like NetSuite. By integrating eCommerce, PSA (Professional Services Automation), ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) through a single database, this software system exponentially enhances your company’s ability to produce and (you guessed it) change. Of course, some adjustments (like transitioning to cloud-based software) are major, but the ability to adapt is also crucial on the small scale. That’s why it’s so important that you know not only how to enter your data into NetSuite, but how to ​modify​it, as well. Your enterprise’s essential information is virtually always in flux – growing, reshaping, expanding – and you need to be able to keep up.

The SCS Cloud team knows that even the best cloud-based business software (like NetSuite) is only useful if you know ​how​to use it. You can only keep your documents up to date if you know how to revise them. For our next piece in our NetSuite Orientation series, we explain why, when, and how to edit your customer records.

Why Updating Your Data is So Important

Having the right information at your disposal can make or break your business. If you manage your company based on accurate, up-to-the-minute data, you can make smart, educated choices that drive your enterprise forward. If your records lag behind, even the most brilliant business plans are doomed to fail, since they’re founded on incorrect information. Consistently refining your records helps you ensure that your business has the resources it needs to operate optimally.

Keeping Track of Your Customers

Customer data is one of the most important assets in your digital database. After all, your clients are the heart of your business. If you’re able to aptly connect with them, you can forge lasting relationships, make regular sales, gain valuable referrals, design new products according to their needs, and more. On the flip side, having the wrong address or order number for a given client (or two, or 50) makes your company look incompetent and disorganized, both degrading your reputation and losing you valuable opportunities.

Any time you learn new information about a client, you should immediately note this in your files. With NetSuite’s innovative system, you’ll only need to update ​one​customer record to have accurate information in every database (ERP, PSA, eCommerce, and CRM). When you edit a customer record in NetSuite, you broadcast the correct data to every member of your team, thereby ensuring you can all succeed.

How to Edit your Customer Records

Editing a customer record is a fairly simple process with NetSuite’s intuitive interface (and our expert assistance for a little extra advice). To modify the information in your customer database, follow these steps from the SCS Cloud team:

Open NetSuite and log in.

From the home dashboard, navigate to the customer page by clicking on Customers in the shortcuts portlet (the list of links under the blue bar labeled “Shortcuts”).

This will display a list of all customers. Navigate into a customer record by clicking the blue “View” button on the left side (to the right of the “Edit” button).

This opens the customer record, where there may be blank or filled-in fields to modify. With the customer record you want to edit open, click the bright blue “Edit” button in the upper left. This will make most fields editable.

To add a sales rep to the account, go to the “Sales Rep” dropdown menu (in the upper middle under the light blue “Primary Information” bar). Click the blue down arrow on the right side of the dropdown menu bar and select the name of the sales rep you’d like to assign to the customer.

To update the customer’s address, scroll down to the bottom right of the customer record page. You will see that the address is shown there, but you can’t edit the address from there. To change or add address information, scroll down to the lower dark blue bar and click the “Address” button (between “Relationships” and “Company Profile”). This will bring up a list of addresses.

If you’d like to edit an existing address, click the blue pencil icon to the right of the existing address. If you’d like to add a new address, click the pencil icon next to the blank field at the bottom of the list.

Clicking the pencil pulls up a pop-up window, where you can then type in the new or updated address. Once you have added information to your satisfaction, click the blue “OK” button in the upper left to return to the Address subtab.

If this is a shipping or a billing address, select the correct checkbox under either the “Default Billing” column or the “Residential Address” column.

Next, click the blue “Add” button beneath the new entry.

To add a new contact, click the “Relationships” button (in the lower dark blue bar to the left of the “Address” button. This is where all contacts are stored.

Press the white “New Contact” button in the subtab (next to the “Attach” button). This will pull up a pop-up window. Fill out any information you have on hand about the contact (name, title, role, category, etc.) and press the blue “Save” button in the upper left. The contact will then be added to the list in the “Relationships” subtab.

To change the payment terms of the customer, select the “Financial” subtab in the lower dark blue bar (between “Sales” and “Communication,” to the right of “Relationships” and “Address”).

This opens a new page, where your cursor will automatically be in the “Pricing Group” dropdown menu. From here, scroll up to the “Terms” dropdown menu in the upper right, beneath the lower blue bar on this page. Select the correct payment term (i.e. 1% 10 Net 30, 2% 10 Net 30, Due on receipt, Net 15, Net 30, Net 60, etc.) from this menu.

After all changes are made, press the blue “Save” button in the upper left of the screen (below the first dark blue bar). This will save all modifications made in this session.

This guide teaches you how to edit a few key components of the customer record. You can also check out our ​NetSuite Orientation video on Editing Customer Records​ for a more detailed demonstration. Of course, you are always welcome to contact SCS Cloud with further questions about additional functions regarding NetSuite.

When to Use This Feature

Editing customer records is such a fundamental function that you’re likely to use it on a nearly daily basis. For example, you might use this feature when:

You’re speaking with a customer and he or she casually mentions a recent move. Getting the customer’s new address and inputting it into the record can ensure that promotional materials, invoices, shipments, etc. get sent to the right place.

One of your sales representatives has been promoted to a manager, so you need to re-assign a new sales representative to her customers. To edit the customer record, you can simply choose a new representative from the dropdown menu. With NetSuite’s cloud-based technology, this information will become instantly accessible to the new sales representative so he or she can work proactively with this client.

You’ve recently re-negotiated a contract with a major client to make his or her bill due within 60 days rather than 30. Since the rest of the company (accountants, customer service representatives, etc.) will need to be made aware of this change, you should document it in the customer record by editing the payment terms.

A corporate client your company has been working with for years has added a new sales manager. Since you will most likely need to be in touch with this person in the course of working with this client, you should edit the customer record to add this contact.

These are just a few instances out of thousands in which you would take advantage of NetSuite’s easily editable customer record.

About us

SCS Cloud is a team of software experts with extensive experience in ERP, CRM, and Governance, Risk and Compliance. Our specialties includes a variety of software systems with a particular focus on Salesforce and NetSuite Implementation.